TV SPORTS

TV SPORTS; Buck Has No Apologies for Series

By Richard Sandomir

Published: November 1, 1991

Despite rumblings that Game 7 of the World Series was Jack Buck's last as a CBS baseball announcer, Buck is unruffled and unapologetic. "I haven't heard a thing," said Buck, whose option for 1992 must be picked up by CBS by Nov. 26 if the network wants to keep him.

"You can't force anyone to do anything," said Arthur Friedman, Buck's attorney, "but Jack's a Hall of Famer and they had a great World Series."

That may not be enough. A telling remark about the Buck-CBS relationship came from two CBS insiders after Buck's double-error on the final play of Game 4, when Jerry Willard's sacrifice fly scored Mark Lemke for the Braves' victory over the Twins. Buck made Willard's fly seem so Ruthian that it would easily end the game. When Lemke slid home, Buck pronounced Lemke "Ouuuuuu -- Safe! Safe! Safe!"

That seems to be a pretty lame excuse, considering that CBS had 11 cameras at the Series and only one Buck.

Nonetheless, Buck is sanguine about his post-season performance and indicates that he deserves to be back. "I felt great coming out of the Series because we covered everything well," he said. "I came way with a great feeling."

Curiously, Buck defended his penchant for anticipating the outcome of plays. "It's not a problem and it's not to say that I'm not right," he said. But after criticism from his bosses, he said, "I tried to lay low on it."

Until he hears about his CBS baseball future, Buck will return to calling Monday night National Football League games for CBS Radio with Hank Stram. "I'm not worried about a thing," he said.

When ABC acquired the rights to the College Football Association package of games for five years to complement its Pac-10 and Big Ten slates, the goal was to create a monument to regionalism by allowing the network to plug the right game into the right geographic area based on natural rooting interests.

To that end, the plan is working. In nearly every region, ratings are up over last year when ABC had only Pac-10 and Big Ten games.

"Instead of being strong in one or two key areas, we're strong across the board," said David Downs, ABC Sports' vice president of programming.

All but one area's rating had improved over 1990 through six weeks of regional games ended Oct. 12. In the Northeast, the average A. C. Nielsen rating is 5.4, up from the region's full 1990 rating of 3.9 on ABC. The East Central is up to 8.3 from 8.1. The West Central is up to 5.2 from 4.6. The South has risen the most, to 7.4 from 4.3. Only the Pacific region is down, from 5.2 to 5.0, mostly because of a paucity of U.S.C. and U.C.L.A. games.

In addition to the higher regional ratings, the average rating for ABC's five national games through Oct. 19 is 6.5, up from 5.2 last year.

Whether regionalization is more than a ratings success is uncertain. "We paid a lot of money for this and if we can't drive up ad levels to make money on the package, then something's wrong," said Downs. "It's going to be close about making money this year. But if we lose money, it won't be a bath."

But while the C.F.A.'s schools are getting more cash than they would if they had stayed with CBS (which aired a national-only schedule) and more games as a whole are being broadcast (three to five each week regionally), they have sacrificed the benefits to recruiting and bowl bids that national exposure affords.

In the past, when ABC and CBS aired college football, they split 10 to 11 national rating points. Without CBS, ABC will produce 6 to 7 of its own this season. That's less of a problem for ABC, which has got what it wanted, but the colleges may hurt for attention despite the extra cash.

"ABC said under their package more people would watch college football," said Len DeLuca, the CBS executive who oversaw the C.F.A. pact at the network. "But the C.F.A. may have gotten 25 percent more money for 50 percent of the exposure they got on CBS."

Downs disputed the criticism, saying that with NBC's Notre Dame package, there are still between 10 and 11 national rating points. He added: "If you're coaching Georgia Tech and your game is only going to 40 percent of the country, you can't pick up a phone and tell a recruit, 'Watch us.' But if you look at their roster, 99 percent of their players come from that area."

Besides, he notes, if a regional power plays well enough, it can build itself up to national games.